Failed Test
by RingoTart
Summary: Sakura Mikan has always been known for her bad grades and lack of talent, but this time, the principal threatens to hold her back a grade after her horrible test. Desperately, Mikan agrees to her only other option, getting tutored by the sexy heartthrob, Hyuuga Natsume.
1. Chapter 1

An original fanfic by me. Xoxo. –Revised-

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters, but gosh I sure wish I did.

A/N: Mikan, Natsume, Ruka, and Hotaru are all around 15-16 years old. Mikan likes Natsume, but Natsume...?

Mikan P.O.V

"Hotaruuu!" I yawned as I sat up on my bed. I looked around our dorm for my best friend/roomate Imai Hotaru.

"Hotaru, where did you go?" I questioned. Hotaru was usually awake before I was, but she would never miss my delicious cooking. Correction, she would never miss pulling out her fire extinguisher after I attempted to make breakfast. Mornings were usually a disaster for us, but Hotaru never left to first period without me.

"Hmmm... that's weird." I decided to get changed when I noticed on the side of my table  
>It read:<p>

To baka,

Because you're reading this, you have probably forgotten that Jinno asked us to head off to class half an hour earlier because we have testing. I tried to wake you up, but you kept yelling, "Noooo! Don't touch my Howalon!" So hurry up and get dressed bakaaa.

-H. Imai

"Oh shoot!" I yelled in frustration as I threw my uniform. I had totally forgotten that our finals were today.

"Crapp. Jinno's gonna kill meeee." I reached for my boots and ran towards the classroom. When I reached the classroom, I slammed open the door to see my other classmates snickering at me.

"Nice hair polka," Natsume scoffed as I headed towards my seat, which just so happened to be right next to his.

"Sakura-san!" Jinno yelled firmly. I jolted out of my seat and replied, "Hai?"

"Sakura-san. I reminded the whole class yesterday that because of testing, we have to start half an hour earlier. Is that correct?"

"Hai."

"And everyone else in class arrived on time except..." He glared at me.

"Gomenasai."

"Well," he sighed. "Class, we must start testing immediately because someoneee..." He paused and glanced in my direction. "Isn't very responsible."

I bowed my head in apology. I felt awful; the whole class had to wait because of me.

I turned to Natsume, who looked as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Stop worrying Polka. Just concentrate on your test, and don't fail like you did last year. And the year before that. And the year before that." I blushed at his comment. It's hard on a girl when the boy she likes talks about all her failures.

"Sheesh I get it okay? I'm not the best at math or science. Or history."

Jinno passed by, handing us our tests. He threw me a dirty look. Clearly, he was still mad about me being late.

"Okay class. You may begin. You have exactly," He peered down at his watch. "1 hour 23 minutes and 47 seconds. Go ahead."

I flipped over my test, which was a huge packet consisting of four different subjects, a total of 150 problems. 150 problems that I hadn't prepared for.

"I'm done," another student finished while I was still struggling on my third page.

"I'm done too," another student from the back said, handing his test to Jinno.

"You have exactly three minutes left. Start finishing up," Jinno announced as he went back to playing Scrabble on the computer with Narumi.

"Oh shitt. I'm not gonna finish in time," I muttered as I began circling random answers.

"4th year in a row. Impressive," Natsume smirked as he eyed me guessing. Again. I blushed once again. He was messing with my head.

"Oh shut up. Who knows? Maybe I'll be lucky and get a C-."

"Hn. Or D-." He muttered under his breath, barely audible.

"Okay times up. Pass up your tests." A few people moaned. The few people who decided to procrastinate and study the night before, including me.

Ruka-pyon and Hotaru began discussing their answers.

"Ruka. You missed 4, 38, and 102." Hotaru stated in her usual monotone voice.

"Whaaa. How do you know?"

"Because I memorized all my answers and compared them with your when you were done. We got different answers for those three."

"How are you so sure that I got them wrong?" He looked up at Hotaru who was eating her fancy crab. "Never mind. I missed three."

"How did you do Natsume? Ruka-pyon asked Natsume, who finished third, after Iinchou and Hotaru.

"100."

"Gosh. You and Imai are just so..."

The next morning the test results were posted.

1) Imai Hotaru and Hyuuga Natsume  
>2) Tobita Yuu<p>

I searched for my name.

250) Sakura Mikan- 34%.

Sigh. Not again.

Once again, I had to have the talk again with sensei about my grades.

"Sakura-san. I've never, ever seen anyone score a 34% before on a test. I've realized after all these years that sticking you in summer school with me just brings torture to the both of us. So I've come up with another idea. One of the top scoring students has offered to be your tutor."

I looked up at Hotaru in admiration. "Arigatou Hotaruuu. I promise I'll do my best."

I jumped towards Hotaru for a big hug. She pushed me away and said, "Not me. I would know better than to tutor a baka like you." She turned away and polished her baka gun.

Oh no! If it's not Hotaru then that means... I turned around to see Natsume flash a smile at me. My heart skipped a beat.

"Natsume will be your tutor this summer. No objections."

A/N: So how was the first chapter of my first fanfic? I hope you liked it. I wasn't really focused on developing their relationship until the very end, so you will see more MikanxNatsume in the next chapter. (which will hopefully be done soon) Any feedback would be great. :) BTW, this was typed completely on my itouch, so it appeared a lot longer than it actually turned out to be. I should really type on my computer next time…

~RingoTart


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 –Revised-

A/N: Thank you guys for all the story alerts and favorites. You guys made my day. :) So here's chapter. I hope you enjoy. I'm typing on my computer this time instead of my itouch. Sorry about the typos last chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters.

Mikan's P.O.V.

_Knock knock._

Oh shoot! Natsume's ten minutes early! I still haven't decided on my outfit. I quickly threw on the first thing I saw in my closet: a white blouse and a navy blue skirt. I was overly nervous for our study session. Only. I was hoping that Hotaru would stay with us to lessen the awkwardness, but she headed to her lab when she heard that Natsume was coming over.

"Polka, hurry up and open the door."

"Uhhh… who is this?" I teased.

"Natsume," he hissed.

"Natsume who?"

"Baka, hurry up and open the door before I burn down your room."

I quickly opened the door and flashed him an innocent smile. Hotaru would not be very happy coming home to find all her stuff burned down, although most of her valuables are in her lab and have a sign that says, "Beware of Mikan".

"Sorry Natsume. It's just that I know so many people with the same name as you."

He glared at me, and I flashed another smile.

"Your room," he paused.

"My room…?"

"Is so pink and orange." he finished.

"Well, those are my two favorite colors," I said proudly. "Pink and orange are very happy colors."

"Which is why I like black and red. Anyways, get out your textbook. Let's start with the subject you scored least on. Math."

I looked around for my math textbook. I hadn't seen it in a while, so I dug through my bookshelves while Natsume pulled out his manga books and began reading.

_Twenty minutes later._

"Where is that stupid book?" I yelled, very frustrated.

"Is it that thing right there?" He pointed to a stack of papers behind me on my desk.

I turned around and found my textbook shredded. Then I remembered what had happened.

_Flashback _

"This stupid, good for nothing textbook! Because of this thing, I failed my quiz today!"

"I don't think it's the textbook's fault that you failed Mikan. Anyways, you should be used to failing by now. This is your 17th failed quiz this year."

"Hotaruuuu," I complained.

"This is my newest invention," Hotaru brought out a white toaster shaped contraption. "It's a power shredder that can shred more than just one paper at a time. You could shred an entire book with just this." She gave me an evil smile. "Would you like to see how it works?"

"No Hotaru. Even though it is this baka textbooks fault I failed, I will not shred him."

"Him?"

"Yes, him. I named him Bob."

"I see. Bob and a baka. A perfect match."

"How does this thing work anyway? It looks so complicated and has so many buttons. I wonder what this button does-"

"Wait Mikan! Don't press that."

I looked up to see Bob shredded into a thousand pieces.

_End of flashback._

"Well you see… Bob got into a little accident?"

"You named your textbook Bob?"

"What's wrong with Bob?"

"Well, uh. Nothing I guess. Nice choice of names." He chuckled. "Let's move on to science then. You didn't shred your science book did you?"

"No! I would never shred Billy! I'm not that dumb." I said, pouting.

"I see. Well, go fetch Billy then."

"Okay," I said obediently. I went over grabbed my science book.

"Okay, let's see. Let's start with atoms and molecules."

He lectured to me for about an hour about atoms, the elements on the periodic table, and Newton's laws. Surprisingly I understood. I was distracted from time to time because he was literally two inches from me, but it turned out that he was a better teacher than I thought. He gave me a worksheet that had twelve questions about the material he had just gone over.

"Here. I'm done," I said, handing Natsume my paper.

"Woah I can't believe you finished this in so quickly. Must be a new record,"

"Oh shut up," I said, half blushing. "Just check the answers."

"Wow. They're all correct too. Good job Polka."

He turned to look at me, and then gave me a big bear hug. I fainted.

A/N: Sorry this was such a short chapter. I made it up off the top of my head because I really wanted to update today. Reviews extremely appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 –Revised-

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

A/N: This chapter is entirely dedicated to RukaxHotaru fans. Enjoy. :)

_Hotaru P.O.V_

"Miss Imai-san," my robot said. "Your friend Nogi Ruka wants permission to enter your lab. Is this alright?"

"Ruka's here?" I walked over and opened the door myself. I was quite surprised to see Ruka. He usually didn't pay a visit to my lab unless Mikan and Natsume were there as well.

"Imai-san!" He exclaimed right when I opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Where's Natsume? I've been looking all over for him, which reminds me, I haven't seen Sakura-san either. Have you seen either of them?"

"They're in our dorm studying. Didn't Natsume mention that he was Mikan's tutor for this summer?"

"Oh that's right! I totally forgot that they were studying together."

"What's the emergency?"

"It's nothing really. Just some first year wanting to confess to Natsume. (A/N: The confession will be in the next chapter.) Nothing new."

"Ah. I see."

There was an awkward silence for a while.

"Well, feel free to take a seat, I guess," I said. I gestured, and he sat down next to my Mikan double.

"So…" Ruka said.

"So…?" I continued.

"How is your invention coming along?" he asked, clearly trying to avoid awkwardness.

"It's pretty good," I replied. "I just need to test it out a few times."

"Ahh I see. What does it do?"

"I named it 'Matchmaker'. I can bring any two people, no matter how different they are, together."

"Haha," he laughed. "Shall we test it out?"

"I was planning on testing it out on Natsume and Mikan, but Mikan seems really concentrated on her studies, which isn't like her at all. Also, I don't think they need it. They'll be together soon." I smiled.

"Really?" he gave me a Natsume smirk.

"Yep. I think they will."

"Imai-san, I have a question."

"Yes."

"How come you don't have a boyfriend?"

I paused and glanced at him. No one had ever asked me that before.

"I don't really know. I never thought about it I guess."

"Oh, I see." He stared out of my window.

"Why, do you have a girlfriend?" I asked. I was surprised that I was actually curious. My heart was pumping faster. I felt like a Mikan.

"Nope, but I have someone I like," Ruka said, smiling.

"I thought you got over Mikan a while ago. Do you still like her?" I asked. I felt a strange. Almost…jealous?

"Nope. I don't like Mikan anymore. I like someone else in our grade."

"Do I know this girl?" I asked, trying to hide my curiosity. Gosh, I really felt like a Mikan.

"Mhm. I guess you could say that." He smiled. "Hey listen, I'm planning on going to Central Town next weekend. Would you, uh, like to, uh, maybe come with me?"

"Oh, sure." I said, trying to hide my excitement with my monotone voice.

"Great, so Saturday at around 2:00?"

"Okay."

Ruka waved goodbye and left.

I sat down and thought about it. Then I realized, was I just asked out by Ruka? I was so confused. I mean, I've never felt this way about any guy before, but at the same time, I've never been on an actual date before. Was this considered a date? Or was it just two friends shopping around together? Or maybe it's him going after my rabbits….no, that's probably not it. I guess I should consult Mikan on this. She was usually the one fantasizing, so I guess I was never really interested in having a boyfriend. It just seemed like a lot of trouble. I should really talk to Mikan about this. Where is that baka?

A/N: Thanks for reading. I'm currently revising my stories. The next chapter will be posted up soon. I just revised this chapter and realized that Hotaru's really OOC. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

A/N: This chapter was especially rushed because my friend, who is also a crazed Gakuen Alice fan, told me to hurry and write my fourth chapter. I just barely finished chapter three and was prepared for a break, but she told me to continue. So here is chapter 4 of my story. I hope you all enjoy.

_Mikan's P.O.V_

I looked up. I saw a white room. I was covered with a white blanket. Where was I? I turned to my right and saw some medication. I looked forward and saw a pretty vase with some daisies and a picture of the nurse and her daughter. I turned right and saw Natsume sleeping with his face close to my pillow. I looked-wait what? Natsume? I turned in disbelief, but there he was, sleeping on a little chair, his face near mine. Then I remembered what had happened.

_Flashback_

"Here I'm done," I said, handing Natsume my paper.

"Woah I can't believe you finished this in so quickly. Must be a new record,"

"Oh shut up," I said, half blushing. "Just check the answers."

"Wow. They're all correct too. Good job Polka."

He turned to look at me, and then gave me a big bear hug.

_End of Flashback_

"Oh my," I whispered, totally embarrassed. I turned to look at his perfect face again. I was glad that he was resting; Ruka told me that Natsume hadn't been getting enough sleep recently. I wonder why? Then all of a sudden, Hotaru stormed in.

"Baka Mikan, I need to talk to you," she said urgently. Then she paused and said, "Wait, why are you in the infirmary?"

"Long story short. Natsume hugged me; I fainted."

"I see," she said. Then she noticed Natsume next to me. "Oooo la la!~"

"Hehe," I chuckled. "Why are you in such a rush to talk to me? It's usually the opposite around."

"I know, but I need your advice."

Hotaru needs my advice? Wow. This must be the first time…ever.

"What can I help you with?" I asked, trying to sound professional.

"You see, Ruka kinda mentioned something about going to Central Town with me, and uhm…"

"Oh my gosh! Ruka-pyon asked you on a date? I'm so happy for you Hotaru." I jumped and gave her a hug, which unfortunately woke Natsume up.

"Oi, Polka, why are you being so loud at this time of day?" Then he turned around to check the time. "Holy shit! It's already 2:00? How long have I been asleep? Ruka's gonna kill me." He grabbed his jacket and started to head out the door. "Ja na, Polka, Imai."

"Sorry Mikan," Hotaru said. "I didn't mean to uhm, interrupt your study session."

"Oh it's okay Hotaru. We were done studying anyway. So tell me, what happened between you and Ruka-pyon?" I screeched, much more excited than Hotaru.

"Well, he just said that he was going to Central Town over the weekend, and he wanted to take someone with him. I don't really know if it's considered a date." She shrugged.

"Of course it's a date! It's just the two of you right?" I asked, interrogating her personal life.

"Actually I don't know. He didn't really say much. He just said to meet at 2:00. It didn't really seem like he was asking me on a date," Hotaru said without much emotion, but I knew deep down that she was hoping that he had asked her out.

"Hmmm. I'm not sure then. Oh, I know! I'll go ask Natsume to ask Ruka-pyon!" I rushed off to find Natsume. Where could he have gone? He left not too long ago. I remember he went to go look for Ruka-pyon, but he didn't mention where he was going. That's bit strange. I continued walking until I heard a voice from behind the tree. Natsume was standing there with a first year girl, and Ruka-pyon was by his side. I hid myself behind another tree and listened closely to their conversation.

"Hyuuga-kun!" the girl said. "I've liked you for a really long time! Please accept these chocolates!" She bowed her head and held a small box of chocolates in her hands. I could tell that she was really nervous.

"Uhm. I don't really know what to say. Thank you for telling me your feelings, but I don't really feel the same way. Sorry."

She looked like she was about to burst into tears. Even though she was my love rival, I felt really bad seeing her get rejected. Is this what's going to happen to me if I confess to Natsume one day? Will it ruin our long friendship?

"Is there someone you like?" the girl asked, still hopeful.

Ruka snickered. Natsume hesitated.

_Natsume's P.O.V_

When Ruka said that there was an emergency, I thought he meant that the principal needed to talk, or my sister was in the hospital. I didn't think this girl would show up in front of me and confess. I mean, I'm glad that she had the courage to confess, but I seriously don't feel the same way. There's only one special girl in my heart, and that unfortunately is that baka Polka. So when this girl asked me if there was someone that I liked, it completely threw me off guard. I didn't know how to answer. I didn't know what to say. Only Ruka had asked me that before. I told him the truth, knowing that my best friend could keep a secret, but I didn't want to tell this girl, who I didn't know at all. I decided that the truth was always best.

"Yes, I do have a girl that I like," I replied.

The girl burst into tears. I felt kind of bad watching her cry. I looked over at Ruka, who looked back at me. Finally, the silence was broken when she asked a follow up question.

"Who is this girl that you like?" she asked.

I didn't want to tell this girl I liked Polka. In fact, I didn't want to tell anyone at all. I didn't feel comfortable intrusting my secrets to a girl I had just met. So I simply replied, "You don't know her. She's a second year like us."

She nodded and walked away. I stared at Ruka again. I guess he didn't know what to say either. _Mikan's P.O.V._

My heart was pumping as the girl waited for Natsume's reply. I was relieved when he said no, but I also felt really bad for the pretty girl. But when she asked him if he liked someone, he said he liked a second year girl. She started crying, and I almost did too. I didn't know that Natsume liked someone. He never really talked about his personal life to me or anyone besides Ruka-pyon. I guess I knew from the beginning that he didn't like me. He was always telling me about how I'm an idiot and a blockhead, but still, I was always hoping. But now, my chances are ruined. I felt awful, but I had to get myself together and help Hotaru win Ruka-pyon. I wiped the edges of my eyes and bounced over to where they were standing.

"Natsume! I need to talk to you," I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Ruka-pyon. "Gomenasai Ruka-pyon! I need to ask Natsume a quick question about my homework." I continued dragging him until we reached the front of the school.

"What's your question?" he asked when we stopped. I was busy catching my breath. He seemed to be fine though.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Didn't you say you had a question about your homework?" he asked. He looked kind of irritated.

"Oh hehe. Just kidding. I have a question about Ruka-pyon and Hotaru."

"I don't really know if I can help you with that. Hey! Are you trying to set Ruka up with Imai?"

"No. I was wondering if you know anything about their date on Saturday."

"Holy…Ruka asked Imai out?" He looked as surprised as I had been.

"He asked her to go to Central Town over the weekend. I came to ask you if he invited anyone else, but I guess not because you'd be the first person that he'd ask."

"Ruka never goes without me. How strange; maybe they are going on a date after all. I can't believe he didn't tell me."

"Hehe," I chuckled.

"What?" he demanded.

"You're such a kid Natsume," I teased.

"Shut up baka, or I'll burn your hair."

"Hehe," I smiled. I decided to ask him about the confession. "So, well earlier, I was passing by, and I kinda, uhm, overheard some of that confession."

"You what?" he looked super embarrassed.

"No need to be embarrassed Natsume! I know you've gotten a lot of confessions before. It's just that I overheard you saying that you liked a girl and uhm…"

"Wait you heard that?" he asked, his face turning bright red.

"Uhhh, yeah. You know, Natsume, you could talk to me about it, if that's what you want," I said nervously. I wanted to know who my competition was.

But he simply said, "Thanks Polka." Thanks Polka? That's it?

He continued, "But right now, I think we should focus on Ruka and Imai. They're going on a date…and they didn't tell us?"

"Actually, Hotaru told me. I guess Ruka-pyon never mentioned it to you. Hehe, some friend you are."

"I've decided."

"Decided what?"

"Let's follow them," he said with his usual creepy, but cute Natsume smirk.

Even though I was really curious about who Natsume likes, helping Hotaru is far more important right now. I also wanted to see how their date turns out.

"Let's do it." I smiled.

A/N: Woot! My longest chapter yet. I like this chapter. It's building suspense. Next chapter will be Hotaru and Ruka's date. I'm excited, but I have no ideas yet. Anyways, reviews are extremely, extremely appreciated. Thank you for the reviews and all the story alerts and favorites. They encourage me to write faster. If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to review or pm me, and I'll try to include your ideas in my next chapter. ;)

~RingoTart


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and for all your nice comments, and thank you for all the story alerts and favorites. Every time I get an email from fanficiton I squeal. Thanks and I hope you enjoy Chapter 5.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice of its characters.

Mikan P.O.V.

Natsume and I agreed to meet up at 1:30 on Saturday. It was now 1:38, and I was running towards our favorite Sakura tree.

"Bakaa! You're eight minutes late,"

"Well, sorry! I was helping Hotaru get ready."

"The bus is about to leave! Let's go." He grabbed my arm and started running towards to bus station.

"Don't you that they would notice us riding on the same bus as them?" he asked.

"Oh that reminds me. Here," I handed him a really big hat.

"Uhm…what's this for?"

"To make sure that they don't see us on the bus," I explained as I pulled out my other hat.

"Yeah, totally. Cause two suspicious looking people with hats covering half their faces isn't weird at all."

"Well this is all I had planned last minutes okay? Be happy I brought something."

"Here," he handed me something."

"What is this?" I questioned, looking at the bottle in my hands.

"Drink it. I asked someone to make it for us. It's a special liquid that makes you look different for about half an hour."

I looked at him strangely. "So we could look like anything?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," I choked down the liquid. It didn't really taste like much at all, but right after I drank it, I felt my body change. "Please turn me into a supermodel Kami-sama!" Natsume started laughing. "What?" I asked. Then I took a look in my mirror.

"WHAT IS THIS?" I yelled.

"Hahaha," Natsume laughed. "I told you. You could look like anyone."

"You said anyone, not anything! This makes me stand out way more than I did before. Plus, I'm not supposed to be able to talk!"

"Don't complain; maybe I'll get something worse," he said, picking up his liquid. "Probably not though." He smiled and drank his liquid.

Poof. The pink smoke cleared up. I looked at the spot where Natsume used to be and saw Youichi.

"Awhhhh! Kawaiiiii!" I jumped and tried to hug Natsume/Youichi, but he pushed me away.

"Get away from me Bear," was his response. Yeppp, bear. That was what the special liquid turned me into. My nemesis, Bear.

"Natsume! Now we stand out even more."

"It's okay. As long as we're not ourselves, we're okay." he turned and grabbed my arm, which was made out of cotton. "Let's go," he turned and snickered. "Bear."

He handed the tickets for the two of us to the man, and we went to go look for a seat. We saw Hotaru and Ruka-pyon buckling their seatbelts, so we rushed over to take the seats behind them, but too late. Two seniors sat down.

"Uhm." I began.

"Shhhhh," Natsume shushed me. "You're Bear. You can't talk. Let me handle this."

I was expecting him to burn the two girls sitting there, but instead he flashed a cute smile and said, "Excuse me? Could Bear and I sit here?"

"Awhhhh!" was the response that he got. "Of course you guys can sit here!" The two girls scooted out to look for another seat.

"Youichi?" Ruka-pyon looked back at us.

"And…bear?" Hotaru finished.

I waved, remembering that Bear could speak. The bus began to move. We buckled our seatbelts and awaited our arrival. We also listened very closely to the conversation between Ruka-pyon and Hotaru. They didn't really say all the much until Ruka-pyon and Hotaru a question.

"Did you tell Sakura-san that we were coming here today?"

"Mhm," she nodded.

"Ah," was all he said.

"Did you tell Hyuuga?"

"Well, no."

Hotaru raised her eyebrow.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I had a feeling that if I told Natsume, he would follow us around."

Hotaru turned around to look. "I'm quite surprised that baka Mikan didn't follow us either. They must be studying again. How odd."

I smiled at Natsume, and he smiled back. We didn't tell anyone else that we were following them around today. It was our little secret.

The bus stopped, and we waited for Hotaru and Ruka-pyon to exit off first. We followed closely behind, waiting for them to go into a store.

Suddenly, I heard a poof sound. "Oh crap," Natsume grabbed my arm again, and we hid behind a tree. We turned back into our normal selves again.

"Okay Mikan. Now that we've returned to our normal selves again, we have to be super careful. No loud noises."

"Mmmkay," I said. We began walked towards Hotaru and Ruka-pyon.

Quack. Quack. Quack.

"Is there a duck following us or something?" Natsume asked.

"Iono. Where is it coming from?"

We continued walking. All we heard were quacks. Then all of a sudden Natsume stopped. I rammed into him and fell onto the floor.

"What the heck?"

"Mikan."

"Mhm?"

"Are your shoes quacking?"

"Huh? Of course not. Why would you ask that?"

"Because every time you take a step, there's a quacking noise."

"Oh yeah! Hotaru was testing out her new invention on my shoes. The principal asked her to make something for children, so she designed these."

"Ughhh," he groaned.

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"Your shoes. They quack. We're secretly following them, and your shoes quack."

"Ohhh." I finally understood.

"Come with me." He took me to a nearby shop. "Sit there." I took a seat on the comfy couch. He returned after a few minutes and handed me a bag. "Wear these." I opened a bag and saw the pair of flats that I had always wanted.

"Arigatou Natsume."

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up." We went back outside to look for Hotaru and Ruka-pyon. They were gone.

"Let's spread out," I suggested. "You go left; I'll go right. Whoever finds them first will call the other kay?"

"Mmm," he replied.

I started heading right. I ran around from shop to shop looking for the two of them. After searching for almost an hour, my feet were throbbing and numb. I sat down on a patch of grass and took off my new flats. My feet were covered in blisters. Owwwww. I picked up my phone and decided to call Natsume. There was no response. I called again and again, but he didn't pick up. Each time it went straight to voicemail. My left foot began to bleed. I clutched my foot, trying to lessen the pain. I gave up and called Hotaru, who unfortunately also did not pick up. I called Ruka-pyon. No response as well. I continued sitting there with my bloody foot. I leaned against a tree, waiting for someone to call me back.

I guess I had fallen asleep because when I woke up, Natsume was sitting beside me. I feet were bandaged up as well. I looked at him, dazed.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I can't move my feet. Sorry I ruined that shoes that you bought me."

He looked at me and sighed. "I was so worried. I ran back and forth calling for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere. Then I found you here asleep with your foot bleeding."

"Sorry that I made you worry," I replied. "But I'm fine now! I can walk. Let's go look for Hotaru and Ruka-pyon."

I tried to stand up, but I just couldn't. I fell back down and tried to stand up again.

"Here let me help you," Natsume offered. He stood up and grabbed my arms.

"Wait what are you doing?" I asked.

He lifted me up onto his back.

"Piggy back ride." He smiled. He carried me all the way back to the bus station and sat me down on the chair.

"What about looking for them?" I asked.

"Naw. The first thing we should do is head back to school and have your foot treated by the nurse. We can ask them about it later."

The bus driver announced that we would be arriving back at to our dorms in about ten minutes. We didn't really say much the whole way. I wanted to thank Natsume for the whole day. And apologize. I really screwed things up. We got off of the bus, and Natsume carried me all the way back to the room that Hotaru and I shared after I insisted that I didn't need to go see the nurse.

"Uhm..Natsume?"

"Hn?"

"Arigatouu. And gomenasai. Today didn't really turn out as planned."

"No, it didn't; it was better." He smiled and headed back to his own room.

I turned to see Hotaru looking at me.

"Hotaruu! You're back!" I tried walking towards her, but instead I collapsed onto the floor. She helped me back up, and I sat on my bed while she was fixing her invention.

"How was your date?" I asked.

"It was really fun. We had a good time. But along the way, I heard someone's shoes quack."

"Oh I didn't know that your invention was already put into stores."

"It isn't in stores. The only person who has one is," she pointed at me, "You. Seems like you had a lot of fun today as well, didn't you?" She snickered.

"You were watching us the whole time, weren't you?"

"Maybe," she smiled. "Just for a little while."

"HOTARUUU!" I jumped at her and collapsed onto the floor again. She smiled.

A/N: Yayyy. Chapter 5 is finally done. The reason why this chapter took so long is because I had several ideas all at once, so it became kind of cluttered. I came up with this idea today. I hope you liked it. Also, if you have time, please check out my other fanfic (The Dairy of Sakura Mikan). Comments, reviews, contrastive criticism, etc. are all extremely appreciated. Your opinions mean a lot to me.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Girls Can Be Scary

A/N: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I haven't had any good ideas until just yesterday. I was reading other fanfics when I realized that I haven't updated mine in a month. So here's chapter 6 of Failed Test.

This idea was inspired from Kimi ni Todoke, one of my all time favorite mangas. It is similar to one of the earlier chapters in which Sawako is bullied by other girls for hanging out with Kazehaya. Enjoy. :)

Also, this chapter has a bit of fighting in it, so it is rated T.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters. This chapter was inspired by Kimi ni Todoke, which I also do not own.

Mikan's P.O.V

I jolted up when Hotaru came over and smacked me with her baka gun. She was dressed nicely; there wasn't a single fold or wrinkle in her uniform.

"School starts in ten minutes," she announced, "Hurry up; you don't want to be late to school…again."

I quickly changed and brushed my teeth. I tried my best to comb out all the tangles, but I failed, so I tied it up into two pigtails. I headed over to our kitchen table and munched down some leftovers from last night. I grabbed my bag and my crutches and followed Hotaru out the door.

_Flashback_

"How was your date?" I asked.

"It was really fun. We had a good time. But along the way, I heard someone's shoes quack."

"Oh I didn't know that your invention was already put into stores."

"It isn't in stores. The only person who has one is," she pointed at me, "You. Seems like you had a lot of fun today as well, didn't you?" She snickered.

"You were watching us the whole time, weren't you?"

"Maybe," she smiled. "Just for a little while."

"HOTARUUU!" I jumped at her and collapsed onto the floor again. She smiled.

"IMAI HOTARUU!" I shouted at her, trying to tackle her down. But instead I fell face flat down onto our pink carpet. I couldn't move my feet at all.

"Oww. My feet." I cringed. My foot began throbbing again.

"What's wrong Mikan? Does your foot still hurt?"

"Mhm." I nodded, trying to hide my tears. The pain was spreading.

Hotaru pulled out her cell phone and contacted the nurse. When she hung up, she told me, "The nurse is on her way with a wheelchair and a few other staff members to help you up. She says you probably broke a bone. Let me get you something in the meantime to ease the pain." She headed over to the restroom and pulled out the handy first aid kit that I had insisted on buying. I knew it would come in handy someday.

She lifted my foot up onto a couch pillow. I plopped my head onto the couch and relaxed for a moment, trying to forget about the pain. I took a few deep breaths.

_Ding dong._

"It's me, your school nurse."

Hotaru quickly opened the door a greeted the nurse. She pointed to me, and the nurse headed over to where I was laying down. She carried me onto a wheelchair and gave me a blanket to hold. The nurse did an xray and said that I did break a bone. She said that I would need to be super careful and wear crutches for the next two weeks. Afterwards, she wrapped up my foot and said I was free to go.

With Hotaru aiding me, I headed back to my room and passed out on the couch again.

_End of Flashback_

Hotaru walked in an orderly fashion while her new assistant robot carried her bag. She strolled down the hallways eating crab brains while I barely managed to walk while holding my stuff.

"Hotaru, would you please help me carry my bag to the classroom?" I asked.

"Why would I do that?" she asked with her mouth stuffed.

"Well then could you please ask your Robot-san to help me carry my things as well?"

"Okay."

I smiled. I was glad to know that Hotaru was being a little more supportive than usual.

"But you'll have to pay me twenty rabbits per minutes," she smiled with a wicked salesperson grin on her face.

"Hotaruu!" I pleaded.

"Oh yeah and that reminds me. You still owe me fifty rabbits for that bracelet you bought last month. As well as…" she pulled out her list of all the times I had borrowed money from her or asked her for her service. "And the total now is… 864 rabbits!" She looked very pleased.

"864 rabbits? But I hardly get fifty per month! How am I supposed to pay you back that much?"

"Labor."

"With my foot like this?"

She thought about it for a second. "Just pay me back later." She continued walking. So much for the necklace I wanted. Sayonara.

_Natsume P.O.V._

"Natsume-kun! Natsume-kun!" I was greeted by the crazy fan girl, Sumire, as I walked into class. I walked directly past her as I thought about Mikan and her foot. I heard that she had gone to the nurse's after she had gotten home yesterday. Where is she now?

As I made my way to my seat, Ruka came over and said, "Ohayou Natsume."

"Ohayou Ruka." I replied, almost forgetting that Mikan and I had followed him and Imai around for the whole day.

I distracted myself by continuing to look for Mikan. Was she okay? Should I go out and look for her?

"Natsume-kun! Ruka-kun!" Sumire and a bunch of other girls from a different class came over to bother us again.

"Hai." Ruka said, trying to be polite.

"Natsume-kun!" she turned to me while calling my name again.

"Yes…?" I asked, very irritated by her. It was the same routine every day. At least that's what I thought.

"I heard you and Mikan went to Central Town together on Saturday," she whined. "Tell me that it's not true."

A whole group of faces stared intently at me, including my best friend Ruka.

"You went to Central Town Saturday?" Ruka questioned, clearly unaware of what had happened.

"Yep. And I saw you and Imai walking around."

"Hey, listen. Sorry I didn't tell you soon, I-." He was interrupted by another fan girl.

"You went on a date with Mikan! That is so uncool! Why didn't you invite us?"

I burned her hair, and she ran away complaining. That's when Mikan walked in with her crutches. I rushed over to her side, taking her bag and helping her to her seat.

"Thanks Natsume," she smiled a big goofy smile at me. Sensei walked in after and announced that class was starting. I went back to my seat and covered my face with a book. Ruka was cuddling the new rabbit that he had found on the way to school, and since there was no one else in the back corner to talk to, I decided to take a nap. When I woke up, I was the only one still in class. Confused, I walked outside a group of guys right outside of the girl's bathroom, chanting, "Fight, fight!"

Iinchou was trying to calm everyone down. I went over to ask him what this fight was all about.

"Hyuuga-kun!" he said, looking very exhausted. "Mikan and Sumire-san and a bunch of other girls! They got into a big fight!" He panted.

I pushed my way through the crowd of people and saw Mikan with some smeared blood on her face. She was on the floor, and she couldn't stand. There were about fifteen girls surrounding her. I couldn't believe it. No one helped her. Ruka and Imai had been called to deliver something, so the only ones that were trying to stop the fight were Iinchou, the pink head, and the blue head from our class.

_Flashback (Mikan's P.O.V)_

Crutches are so tiring. It was hard to get around, and I moved at an extremely slow pace. The bell had just rung, and the students were pushing each other to get out the door. I gathered my things slowly, and when I finished backing everything, the only other person left was Natsume. I walked over slowly.

"Natsume?" I poked at the book that was covering his face. I lifted the manga book up. He was fast asleep. I remembered that Ruka-pyon had told me that Natsume hasn't been getting a lot of sleep, so I covered his face with the book again and decided to give him some peace.

When I walked out the door, a hand grabbed me and clutched my mouth. I tried to scream, but the hand was too tight. I was dragged into the deserted girls' restroom, a perfect place for a girl fight. I was thrown onto the floor. I looked up to see Sumire and a whole group of other girls standing there.

"What?" I asked.

"I heard that you and Natsume-kun went on a date Saturday," she said with a threatening tone.

"It wasn't a date. It was just two friends hanging out together. That's all," I said, trying to clear up the misunderstanding. I didn't want the girl that Natsume likes to hear this rumor.

"Oh please. Stop hanging out with Natsume-kun!" she screamed at me. The other girls looked quite terrified by her screaming as well. "I've liked him for so long!" she continued. "I've liked him so much longer than you have! I won't allow you to date him!"

She and the other girls lunged at me and started tugging at me hair. That's when a crowd of people started coming by. I was glad to see them; I thought that they had come to break up the fight, but instead, they started chanting for us to continue fighting. Sumire continued calling me names and pushing me onto the floor. I couldn't push back, not with so many people there. But there was another reason too. Sumire had the same feelings for Natsume that I have. If I saw him with another girl, I'd be heartbroken as well.

"Break up with him!" she yelled at me.

"We're not dating!" I yelled back. She seemed surprised that I had yelled back. She pushed me back down on the floor. My crutches fell, and I couldn't move my feet at all.

"Stop lying," she said. "Everyone knows that the girl Natsume-kun likes is you."

"That's not true," I said. "I heard him talking about it. He doesn't like me."

I tried to get up, but she pushed me down again. This time, my nose hit something hard, and it began to bleed.

"You like him though, don't you?" she asked.

"I do." My vision began to blur. My nose was bleeding a lot, and I couldn't move at all. Tears streamed down my face.

_End of flashback._

_Natsume's P.O.V._

"Mikan!" I yelled, rushing by to her side. Her face was covered with tears and blood from her nose.

"Natsume!" She buried her face into my shirt and hugged me tightly. She began sobbing. Sumire and the other girls were trying to get away, but I told them to stay. Mikan looked at me very confused. I swooped her up into my arms and carried her into the middle of the hallway, where all the first and second year students were crowded. Ruka and Imai finally came back and made their way past the crowd.

"What's wrong?" They asked at the same time. They both stared at Mikan and then looked back at me.

"I'll explain later. First, I have an announcement to make." I turned to all the students. I looked back at Mikan's crying face.

"I can't believe that you guys would do this to her!" I looked over at the fan girls. They looked guilty, but I wasn't ready to forgive them at all. "And all of you!" I looked at the students. "There's a big fight going on, and all you do is stare. None of you bothered to help her at all!" I was furious.

"Natsume," she said weakly. "Stop. It's okay. I'm fine. Please don't worry about me."

"Next time if you guys have something to say, come up and tell me instead of lashing the blame out on Mikan!"

"You'll have to go through us first." Ruka squeezed Imai's hand. She fired her baka gun about twenty times, and several people were shot down.

"Gomenasai!" the crowd chanted. I looked at Mikan.

"It's okay." She smiled, but she was still crying.

"I won't ever allow you to hurt the girl that I love. Never." I stated firmly.

Everyone gasped except for Ruka and Hotaru. Everyone including Mikan.

A/N: How was this chapter? The next chapter will most likely be the last one. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I thought of this idea not long ago, and I hope you enjoyed it. I already have the next chapter planned out, so hopefully it will be out really soon.

Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and story-alerted my fanfic. It really means a lot.

This is what happens to me:

Story alert: Oooooooo!

Favorite story/author and author alert: *starts doing the happy dance with my cat*

Review: *runs around the house like a crazy maniac*

So, my point is, please review. I love hearing your opinions, and thank you guys so much for reading my fanfic.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Expelled?

A/N: Hey guys! This is the second to last chapter of my first fanfic. Thank you to **Kokoro Bliss,** **a-mystery-and-a-stranger, jdcocoagirl, Backlash 29, Meow, Mizukaze 53,** and** MikaNatsumeXLovers** for your nice comments! Thanks for supporting my fanfic, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Special thanks to two of my best friends, **DramaYue** and **bunnyrawr747**, for always supporting me.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters.

Recap of last chapter's ending:

"Gomenasai!" the crowd chanted. I looked at Mikan.

"It's okay." She smiled, but she was still crying.

"I won't ever allow you to hurt the girl that I love. Never." I stated firmly.

Everyone gasped except for Ruka and Hotaru. Everyone including Mikan.

End of recap. (Mikan's P.O.V.)

Natsume likes…me? How could this be? I've known him for so long, and I had always thought it had been a one-sided love.

He started at me, waiting for a reply. The crowd cheered; a few girls moaned in disappointment that Natsume was no longer available.

"Natsume, I," I was interrupted by the yelling of the principal. (Assuming that there school only has one principal rather than three. Not her uncle.)

"What is the meaning of this Sakura-san?" he demanded.

"Excuse me?" I replied, unaware of what he was so angry about. The principal glared at me and Natsume, who was still carrying me bridal style. Natsume released me but clutched my hand, giving me his full support.

"Sumire-san told me that you had bullied her and the other girls. She said you pushed her and her friends down and began yelling."

I turned in disbelief, looking at sumire and her gang. They had purposely ripped their uniforms and dabbed some fake blood onto their faces as well as mess up their hair.

"It's not true!" someone from the crowd hollered.

"Yeah!" the rest of the crowd chanted.

"Well even if it isn't true, the two of them should be punished."

"For what?" Natsume demanded. I tugged on his shirt, trying to calm him down.

"Natsume-kun. I was informed that you were suppose to be Sakura-san's tutor this summer, am I correct?"

"Hai." We both nodded.

"Well so far we haven't seen much progress at all. Saukura-san, you're a nuisance and a distraction to everyone. Not only do you get poor grades, you constantly both our finest students, such as Imai-san and Natsume-kun. If you weren't around, I'm sure they would have accomplished a whole lot more." He glared at me once again.

"Principal, please don't be unreasonable. Mikan can be very annoying, lazy, stubborn, a big baka, lousy at sports, clumsy, forgetful, loud, not to mention bad at returning rabbits, disorganized."

Someone in the crowd coughed.

"And a million other things," Hotaru continued. "But she isn't a nuisance to our studies. Mikan works very hard and always supports us in our decisions."

"Yeah!" the crowd chanted again.

"But not only that," the principal said. "But Mikan also has the worst grades in the whole grade, she always fails her tests, and she bullied Sumire."

"Sumire-san is lying," Ruka-pyon stated.

"Is lying?" the principal said in disbelief. "Why, my niece would never tell a lie."

"Niece?"

We all looked at the principal/Sumire's uncle.

"Yes. Sakura-san has not only committed a crime, but she also has not been able to pass this grade. Therefore, I think the best option is to expel Sakura Mikan-san.

I gasped.

"Expel me? Now? But next year is my last year here in Gakuen Alice. I've made so many friends the past few years, and this academy has changed my life completely. Without this school and my friends, I have absolutely nothing. I don't even have a real place to call home. Please Principal! Please reconsider your decision!" I begged. I couldn't leave this academy. Not after so long.

"Fine." he mumbled.

"Yay!" I cheered.

"Under these conditions. First, you only get 25 rabbits a month. Second, there mustn't be a peep out of you after ten o'clock. And third," he smiled. "You have to score 100% on the next placement test."

"100?" I asked. "I've never score over 75% on the exams before. Please be more reasonable."

"Nope." he said, quite pleased with his plan. It's either this, or expulsion. Which one do you prefer?"

"I'll do it." I said.

We shook hands on it.

A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter. Sorry it's so short; I barely got any sleep at all last night. But I promise next chapter will be much longer than this one with more Mikan and Natsume. I just wanted something to lead up to the final chapter, so I thought of this just now. I think I'll finish this fanfic over the weekend.

Please review. :)

-RingoTart


	8. Chapter 8

Failed Test Chapter 8: The Finale

A/N: Sorry. I haven't updated in so long. Gomenasai! But I've been busy with a lot of other things, and today I have absolutely nothing planned, so here I am. Anyway, thank you to all of you who supported me throughout writing my first fanfic. I'm so lucky to have readers like you guys. I want to sincerely apologize for my inexcusable procrastination, and nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the final chapter of my first fanfic.

Note: I changed the summary cause I just didn't like it. It was too vague and seemed rather juvenile. I also considered changing the title, but then it gets too confusing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters.

Mikan's POV

The memory flashed through my head yet again.

"_Under these conditions. First, you only get 25 rabbits a month. Second, there mustn't be a peep out of you after ten o'clock. And third," he smiled. "You have to score 100% on the next placement test."_

"_100?" I asked. "I've never score over 75% on the exams before. Please be more reasonable."_

"_Nope." he said, quite pleased with his plan. It's either this, or expulsion. Which one do you prefer?"_

"_I'll do it." I said._

"Oh why oh why did I agree to do this?" I buried my face inside my textbook, practically giving up. I looked up at the ceiling and saw the soda explosion from two years ago when Hotaru and I were doing an experiment. I turned and saw the turtle she had made me for my tenth birthday with messages we had passed during a boring class. All these lovely memories I had made Gakuen Alice have made me who I am today.

"It's okay," Natsume said, patting my head. "We'll get through this…together." He looked outside my window, but out of the corner of my eye I could see him blushing. I moved closer to him and leaned against his chest. He gave me a surprised look.

"Thank you for supporting me this whole time," I choked; my eyes were starting to get watery. If Natsume hadn't been here to support me this whole time, I wouldn't have been able to go through all of this.

He took his finger and twirled my brunette hair. He looked deeply into my eyes, and then leaned his face close to mine. I could feel his hot breath against mine, and just as he was about to kiss me, the door slammed opened with an angry Hotaru and an apologetic Ruka-pyon.

As a reflex, I took my hand and smacked Natsume. He fell onto the floor.

"Hey what was that for?" I shushed him.

"Ruka, how come you never get it right?" Hotaru asked. "It's just a simple procedure. You put this nail into this hole. Screw this here. Spin this part five times. Rotate it and then fill these five screws. Turn it again, and if the screws fall out, repeat the whole procedure again. If they don't, continue with part B which I explained earlier. Why don't you get it?" Hotaru shook her head.

Ruka-pyon just stood there holding a scrap of metal in his hand. "Uhm. Imai-san, when I asked to go on a date, I didn't exactly mean a visit to your lab."

"Fine bunny boy. Let's go visit your animals then," Hotaru sighed. She looked overly stressed. "Why are you watching me? You should be studying Mikan. Can I talk to you Natsume?"

I eyed her suspiciously. What did she possibly need Natsume for?

"Sure I guess," he said, following Hotaru and Ruka-pyon out the door.

"Don't get too jealous my dear," he said, smiling at my still blushing face. My heart was thumping too quickly to come up with a reply.

Natsume POV

I followed Imai and Ruka outside, and Imai shut the door.

"Listen," she began. "I can't help Mikan with her exam. I've got a whole load of that the principal assigned, and Ruka keeps dragging me out when I have no time at all to spare." She had major dark circles under her eyes. "Please just do me a favor," she continued. "I really don't have time to help Mikan. I promised her, but I really can't handle any more work. Please take care of her."

"Sure," I said.

"Another thing is…well you probably know already. Mikan is a good person despites all her flaws. She works harder than anyone; it just takes a longer time for her to comprehend things than normal people. I understand it's a big duty to watch her, but I'm officially handing this task over to you."

"I understand," I replied. "I'll take good care of her."

"Oh and one last thing."

"What?"

"I saw that. Don't you dare make a move on Mikan. That baka is mine."

"We'll see about that," I smirked.

"Hmph. Let's go bunny boy." She left the dormitory with Ruka following shortly behind. I almost forgot he was there.

There was a sound, and I turned around to see Mikan's face peeking out from behind the door.

"Uhm, Natsume. I don't really understand this problem. Will you come help me?"

"Of course," I replied. I'm definitely going to make sure that Mikan doesn't fail out of school.

_Two Hours Later_

Mikan's POV

"Natsume I still don't get it," I said. I could tell that he was getting frustrated, but he tried not to show it.

"Okay then let's work through it away," he said, grabbing another piece of paper from the desk.

"No, this is hopeless," I said, slumping down into my chair. "I'm hopeless."

"Stop saying that," he replied. "You just need to concentrate."

"How am I supposed to do that with all this stress piling on my shoulder?"

"What's the number one thing that keeps bothering your head right now?" he asked.

"You," I said, being direct and honest.

"Okay. Sorry about that then I guess. What's the second thing that's bothering you the most?"

"I think that would have to be this stupid chair. It's kind of bothering my back."

"Then why don't we switch chairs?" he offered, getting out of his seat.

"No that chair is worse. That's why I gave it to you." He glared at me, and I smiled.

"Okay then come here. I have an idea."

I scooted over to him. "What's your idea?"

"Sit." He pointed at his lap.

"Sit on you?"

"Well it's more comfortable than the chair." I hesitated then slowly sat down. He set the book down on my lap. "Okay let's try that problem." And little by little, I managed to solve some problems. As the time flew by, I wasn't having as much trouble as I did prior to our tutoring session. At around 10:30, Natsume closed my textbook and patted my head for the fifth time of the night.

"Your test is tomorrow. Did you forget?"

"Of course not, but there's no way I'm going to score about 85 tomorrow," I said.

"Have a little faith in yourself. You know the problems, and you understand the lessons. Just don't freak out tomorrow, and you'll get the all right."

"Thanks. I would've never even had a chance if it wasn't for your help."

"Close your eyes," he said, and I did. I could feel his face close to mine, but I covered my lips and told him no. This definitely surprised him.

"No Natsume. It's only going to mess with my head even more," I explained, giving him a hug.

"Okay. Then when you get that hundred on your test, I'll take you somewhere really nice, and we can enjoy ourselves for once."

"It's a deal," I said. And we shook hands on it.

_The Next Morning_

Still Mikan's POV

I'm so nervous. My hands are shaking like they've never shaken before. I looked at the clock. There was still half an hour until the big test. I had requested yesterday for my own little classroom to take the test in silence. Explosion is not an option for me. After my uncle was fired as the high school principal, he went into a long depression and can barely make enough money to feed himself. My beloved grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, and his condition was worsening. The school had granted him some money to pay his medical bills, but I get expelled, it's not just me that's ruined, it's him as well. I could lose everything. My family, friends, and worst off, Natsume…

When I got to the classroom, the teacher was waiting for me. She handed me the test, told me the basic information, and walked out the door. This is it Mikan. It's not just selfishly for me; it's for everyone this time.

_One Week Later_

I'm standing in front of my results, but my eyes are closed. The teachers have let me see the scores before anyone else. And here I am, not budging whatsoever. I had a dream the night before, a dream about me working three jobs a day to barely support our family. In the dream, I never heard from anyone ever again. No letters, no secret messages. Nothing.

I managed to peek open my eyes a little bit and I started from the lowest score to the highest. I scanned through the names of some students I had never even heard of. I got to the middle, and I still didn't run into my name. I walked, and walked, and walked all the way until the end. I didn't see my name. I ran back and forth, with all the teachers staring at me. But the name Sakura Mikan was not there.

I looked at the teachers very confused.

"Was my test not graded?" I asked.

"Oh it was graded," a male teacher replied.

"Then wha-?" I was interrupted.

"There has been a change in plans. We've done a lot of research lately about you and your family, and we've discovered a mistake."

"A mistake about my family?" This was definitely odd. No one had ever mentioned anything about my family before unless it was pertaining to my grandfather's situation.

"We've found that your uncle was not guilty of what was accused after long investigations. The real criminal was the principal himself, and he was immediately removed from his position, and your uncle is back in."

"Thank you so much!" I smiled.

"So I guess your deal with the old principal is off too. We heard about that from the students gossiping. A principal does not have the right to demand such nonsense from students."

I was so happy that tears welled up. But I was still curious about the deal I had made with Natsume.

"What did I get on my test?"

"Well, you actually scored first place, above Imai, Natsume-kun, and the boy you refer to as 'Iinchou'."

My jaw dropped. After about twenty seconds of silence, I started laughing. I've never done anything better than them before. Not even in the trivial things. I smiled after thanking the teachers who knows how many times, and rushed over to deliver the good news.

Apparently they had already heard, because I was greeted with hugs as I entered our classroom. For hours, we celebrated with noise, laughter, and lots of crab riceballs (they're Hotaru's favorite.)

Later that night, I sat down next to my favorite tree in the world. A beautiful sakura tree, with its flowers bloomed. I thought about the crazy summer I had just gone through. I also thought about how grateful I was to have people so supportive around me.

"Dear mom and dad, thank you so much for bringing me into this world." I looked at the beautiful stars.

I felt something wrap around my waist, and no surprise, it was my dearest Natsume.

"The stars are beautiful," I said.

"Not as beautiful as you are," he replied.

For the longest amount of time, I stared into his eyes and he stared back. And this time, I took the lead. I leaned over and gave him a heartfelt kiss. He put his jacket around me and held my hand as we both watched the stars.

And that was the end of my summer. It surely was a beautiful summer.

A/N: Yay! That's the end. Finally…I'm so tired. ;)

I hoped you liked the ending. I apologize for my errors. I know I don't catch some of my typos and grammatical errors, but I try my best to write with as little mistakes as possible. I think I've learned a lot from this experience from writing, and I hope I improved a bit along the way.

As always, I really want you guys to know how much I've enjoyed reading the nice reviews and getting alerts.

I've enjoyed writing this story very much, and I hope you stay tuned for my upcoming NatsumexMikan fanfics.

OH! And of course, please do leave a review. I most definitely want to hear your feedback for the finale. And to all my silent readers, I never forget you guys, and I hope you enjoyed this fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Till next time.

~RingoTart


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